Category: Journals

Volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement are encouraged to write personal reflections about the work they engage in with Palestinian communities, the events they experience, and the people they meet. These journals offer the human context often missing in traditional reports or journalism. These articles represent the author’s thoughts and feelings and not necessarily those of the International Solidarity Movement.

Photostory: The Old City of Nablus

by Bill Dienst MD, November 13th,

Nablus, population 113 thousand, is the West Bank’s second largest city: second only to East Jerusalem. Founded during the time of the Romans, it is over 2000 years old.

Here is a fruit market in the center of town.

The heart of Nablus is Al Dowaar Square, also known as Martyr’s (Shaheed’s) Square.

Since the second intifada, many have died defending Nablus from Israeli attacks.

On Friday we face Mecca, and pray for an end to our oppression.

For when cats are trapped in the alley, they will hiss and fight by all means necessary in order to survive; until Israel renounces violence and recognizes Palestine’s right to exist . . . with full and equal rights; just like the Israelis: in a sovereign and independent nation with full control of its borders, its air and sea space, and its economy.

We have no choice but to trust in God.

Palestine has the right to defend itself. Here are some posters of dead local fighters. Lebanon and Iraq have the right to defend themselves too: from brutal military invasions and colonial occupation.

Much of the ancient Old City of Nablus was bombed in the spring of 2002. It has since been rebuilt.

It is Friday, the day of worship for Muslims. That’s Al Harbell Mosque in the distance.

Young girls of Nablus.

These boys are crazy for their city, and are determined to free their city from Israeli occupation.

This is Mr. Eid, who is a tailor, making a comforter.

Most of the shops are closed today because it is Friday.

Negotiating Daily Life: Land Access and Checkpoint Encounters

by Steph, November 6th

During this last week while I’ve been picking olives in the Nablus area with Palestinian families and occasionally encountering/confronting soldiers, I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of negotiation in daily life here in Palestine, and also about the role of internationals in that. I often find myself in situations where Palestinians ask for us to talk with soldiers in order to help them gain access to a place, but I’m concerned about how this sometimes could be seen as accommodating the occupation.

Here are some examples of situations I’ve been in recently:

Aside from going through checkpoints, one of my first contacts with soldiers this week was during my third day of harvesting, in the village of Tel. Four of us internationals went to Tel because farmers there often have problems crossing the settler road that cuts between their village and most of their agricultural land. Although Palestinians have the right to access their land, this village had reported recent incidents of denied access.

In the morning, we headed down the hill towards the road, a large and lively group of families and donkeys. Just as we began to cross the road, a jeep of four soldiers pulled up and ordered everyone to stop. The 20-minute conversation between the soldiers and us internationals was something to the effect of them telling us they knew that the farmers had the right to cross the road, but insisted they needed to see IDs from the four of us, as well as from the young men in the group. We tried to reason with them, asking that they let the farmers go ahead, but they would not budge.

It went on and on like this for a while. The soldiers took the hawwiyas (ID cards) of two young men, and claimed they had to check on them. Eventually, the villagers decided to turn back and take another route to their land, through a drainpipe under the road. Some farmers explained that the soldiers often deny them the right to cross the street, telling them instead to go under it in this way. I don’t know what the point of this is, other than to make life more difficult for Palestinians.

When we were told that we were cleared to go, we informed the soldiers that we would stay with the 2 men whose hawwiyas they had taken, until they were finished with them. They seemed surprised by this and immediately returned them to their owners, clearly not actually needing to check up on them.

In this case, I wondered what might have happened if we weren’t there, and my question was answered the next day when our contact in Tel called to report an incident in which soldiers held some farmers who were not accompanied by internationals for over an hour, and dumped a few bags of picked olives onto the ground. I’ve learned this week, mostly through the incidents in which we were not present, that the high court decision about farmers’ rights to access their land safely is only selectively enforced. At the same time, it never feels good to try to negotiate with soldiers for rights that Palestinians already legally have, even if it works at the time.

On Saturday evening, on the way home from dinner, we got a call that Sabatash Checkpoint, on the outskirts of the city, was closed and about 200 Palestinians were waiting in the rain and cold. Thinking we might be able to change the situation, we headed over there at 8:45pm. We arrived to a tense situation of about twelve packed taxis and buses in line and over 100 men in the street waiting. Soldiers had blocked the checkpoint with razor wire and were just standing around. It was dark, raining and cold, and the watchtower was shining a spotlight all over the crowd. People who had been there since 2pm told us about an incident earlier in the day when a man was shot in the leg for verbally defending a woman who was touched by male soldiers after refusing to lift up her shirt. Nobody had been allowed through the checkpoint since.

The eight of us walked up to the checkpoint, and a few crossed the razor wire against the soldiers’ orders to go back. We began talking with them, asking why they wouldn’t let anyone through, and trying to appeal to them by explaining that many had been waiting for over five hours in the cold and rain. It took a lot of talking and complaining and negotiating, but within twenty minutes the soldiers agreed to allow the women through, then the university students on buses, the trucks, and finally, after two hours, the shebab (young men).

While it’s clear that the presence of eight American and European activists was a positive force in changing the situation (after nearly seven hours of closure, they reopened it within twenty minutes of our arrival and confrontation), it does not remain in my mind as a success. As we left, I felt uneasy, thinking about all the times we aren’t able to be there to make changes, and then reminding myself that relying on our presence as internationals in order to open checkpoints, grant land access and provide protection, also isn’t a solution to the problem. In fact, it makes me feel even more a part of this brutal occupation.

The next day we were called back to “Sabatash” and told it was once again closed. When we arrived, the lines of people were moving, but slowly. We decided to leave but then realized that the soldiers were not going to let a group of women walk through, claiming that only people in cars could pass. This is a difficult place to get a taxi and it was cold out, so we tried once again to negotiate them through. A soldier told us he needed to stick by his orders, and couldn’t in his conscience allow them through. Most of our responses to him went something like “But isn’t it worse to have on your conscience that you made a group of women with small children stand in the cold?” and “How would you feel if someone made your mother or sister do this?” Eventually, we suggested that the soldiers get a taxi so the women could go through, and they agreed. We left feeling infuriated that it took international activists relentlessly making suggestions and bothering them, to get the soldiers to actually do it. And once again our involvement made a small change in the situation, but not in the occupation or in this all-too-common process.

If I am in a place where I am asked by Palestinians to try to make a difference, and my negotiating or confronting soldiers can make a situation even temporarily better, I of course feel obligated to do it. Meanwhile, I struggle with my part in creating expectations that Palestinians (or internationals) must negotiate for rights that are either already there on paper, or should be. This is also not a sustainable solution, and I hope that we can all continue to use various tactics in order to directly challenge the occupation, even while trying to maintain a basic level of dignity here in daily life.

En Bil’in de nuevo (In Bil’in again)

A journal entry giving more detail about Friday’s demonstration in Bil’in.

English version follows Spanish

by Maria del Mar, 10 Noviembre

Tengo 61 anos. Soy Espanola. Estuve tambien el ano pasado en Bil’in. Las Fuerzas de Ocupacion Israelies rompieron mi hombro en dos trozos y un tendon, durante la manifestacion pacifica, por nuestro lado, pero no quebrantaron mi confianza en la noviolencia activa que tiene que llevar algun dia a terminar con la ocupacion Israeli, con el muro, con los asentamientos ilegales…………a permitir que todos y todas puedan vivir en paz. Asi pues, gracias a Dios he podido volver y he vuelto. Llevo aqui tres semanas, pero eso es otra historia que espero contar tambien.

Hoy en Bil’in me ha impresionado ver tal cantidad de activistas de paz internacionales de todas las partes del mundo, desde jovenes de 20 anos a adultos de incluso 75, hablando idiomas diferentes, con creencias diversas, pero entendiendonos perfectamente en el idioma de la paz, de la solidaridad, de la determinacion a manifestarnos pacificamente junto a palestinos y activistas israelies que apoyan a los palestinos en sus justas reivindicaciones.

Ibamos coreando consignas contra la ocupacion, contra el muro. Bastantes han intentado y conseguido pasar el muro de alambrada de espinos con cantos que cortan como cuchillas y situarse al lado de los soldados reivindicando el derecho de estar en la tierra robada por el muro a los campesinos Palestinos. Mientras tanto los soldados israelies nos iban castigando con gases lacrimogenos, con bombas de sonido, con balas de goma.

Cuando finalmente ha podido mas el coraje que las armas, muchos activistas han conseguido situarse al lado de los soldados, al otro lado del muro, hablandoles de que la ocupacion tiene que cesar y otros que nos apoyabamos en la baranda mientras que otros, que no hemos podido pasar el muro, tambien les hablabamos desde el otro lado, diciendoles que podian rehusar a seguir siendo complices de su gobierno que podian abandonar el ejercito, que la ocupacion debia cesar, que el muro era ilegal, que no podian estar reprimiendonos, puesto que eramos civiles desarmados y que esto va contra la legislacion internacional.

Al mismo tiempo ibamos levantando nuestras manos desnudas en alto, ibamos repitiendoles que eramos internacionales y nuestros paises de procedencia. Los israelies les hablaban en su propio idioma.

En un momento dado ha sonado una voz de alarma. Un grupo numeroso de soldados israelies tambien fuertemente armado estaban bajando la montana, con la evidente intencion de cortarnos la retirada, de cogernos entre dos fuegos.

Pero ha podido mas la resolucion, y el coraje de los activistas de paz. No nos hemos apartado un milimetro, de nuestras posiciones aun a riesgo de resultar arrestados, heridos o quizas muertos y se han visto en la disyuntiva de dispararnos alguno de sus artefactos, con riesgo de alcanzar a sus propios soldados o buscar a otros activistas que pudieron estar desperdigados. Asi, despues de unos minutos de vacilacion, han ido pasando a nuestras espaldas, formando un angulo recto. Poco despues escuchabamos y oliamos ya a alguna distancia sus gases, sus bombas de sonido, sus balas de goma e incluso su fuego real.

Una vez mas el activismo noviolento, ha ganado una batalla para nosotros importante. Estar juntos Palestinos, Israelies que creen en la paz e internacionales juntos, dando un mensaje a los soldados, al mundo, de que la ocupacion debe cesar, que el muro debe caer, y que los palestinos tienen todo el derecho a vivir en paz y ganarse su pan en su tierra, libres de toda invasion, violencia y “apartheid”.

Somos solo personas solidarias con personas, ante la pasividad de nuestros gobiernos occidentales que miran hacia otro lado mientras aqui se continua matando en Gaza con mayor intensidad, e impunidad, pero tambien en el resto de territorios palestinos ocupados ilegalmente por Israel.

Hagamos correr la voz,. exijamos a nuestros respectivos Gobiernos que no permitan las ilegalidades, tenemos la fuerza de la razon, pero tambien la fuerza de nuestros votos, del boicot contra Israel, el boicot que termino con el “apartheid” en Sudafrica, y de nuestra solidaridad con el pueblo Palestino.

Y despues de lo que he estado observando, creo aun mas que la noviolencia activa puede conseguir lo que el ojo contra ojo no conseguira jamas, la justicia y la paz.

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by Maria del Mar, 10th November

I am a 61 years old Spanish woman. I was last here in Bil’in December 2005. In Bil’in the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) broke my shoulder in two pieces, during the peaceful demonstration. But they could not break my confidence in active non-violence that will lead some day soon, to the end the Israeli occupation, to the fall of the Apartheid Wall and to the end of illegal settlements. It will enable everyone to live in peace in this land. So, luckily, I’ve been able to come back, and have been here for three weeks.

Today in Bil’in I was pleasantly surprised to see such a number of international peace activists from all over the world. There were young people in their twenties and adults up to 75 years old, speaking many different languages. There were different beliefs represented, but we are all able to perfectly understand the language of peace and solidarity. We were determined to hold a peaceful demonstration with Palestinian and Israeli activists to support the Palestinians in their demands for justice. Even the Frenchman Jose wounded last week was there.

We were chanting against the occupation, against the wall. Some activists managed to cross the razor wire barrier and stand right beside the soldiers, thus showing their right to be on the land that the occupation, the settlements and the wall have robbed from the Palestinians who need it for their livelihoods. In the meantime, Israeli soldiers were punishing us with tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets.

When nonviolent courage finally proved stronger than weapons, those activists who had dared to cross the razor wire and stand beside the soldiers, started to tell them that the occupation has to end. The others who weren’t able to cross stood beside another group of soldiers, trying to explain to them that they can refuse to continue in their complicity with their own government and that they can leave the army. They also said that the occupation has to end, that the wall is illegal, that they can not continue attacking us, since we are unarmed civilians, and that in doing so, they are violating international laws.

At the same time, we put our bare hands up, repeating that we are internationals and the countries from which we have come. The Israeli supporters spoke to the soldiers in Hebrew.

Just then, somebody told us that a large group of Israeli soldiers, also heavily armed, were going down the hill behind us. They wanted to cut-off our escape, putting us between a rock and a hard place.

But the courage of peace activists avoided this. We did not move a single millimetre. from our positions, risking arrest, injury or even death. The soldiers had to choose between shooting us, taking the risk of hurting their own soldiers too, or trying to find other activists in elsewhere. So, after a few minutes, they passed behind us in a straight line. Shortly after, we could hear and even smell at some distance their gas, their sound bombs and their rubber bullets.

Despite this, non-violence once more won an important battle. Internationals and Israelis in solidarity with Palestinians gave a message to the soldiers and to the world. The occupation has to stop, the wall must fall and all Palestinians have the right to live in peace, to earn their living on their own land, free from occupation, violence and apartheid.

We are only people in solidarity with other people. We have the awareness that we must do something while our governments are looking away, while here Palestinian blood is shed every day — mainly in Gaza but also in the rest of Israeli occupied Palestine.

Let us spread the word, let us demand that our governments not continue to permit these illegalities. We have the strength of being right, but also the strength of our votes. We can boycott Israel. Such a boycott helped South Africa to finish their apartheid. We have the power of our solidarity with Palestinians and with all peoples that are suffering injustice.

After having lived so many years, I believe more and more, that active non-violence, can achieve what the rule of “eye for eye” will never do: justice and peace for everybody.

The blood of the martyrs will fertilize the earth

by Schlomo Bloom, November 6th


The finished mural, I wonder how long it will remain free of bullet holes?

On and off for the past few weeks I have been working on a mural in Balata refugee camp. The mural is to commemorate the approximately 350 martyrs from Balata since the beginning of the second intifada.

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invade the camp almost every night and terrorize the residents by destroying houses, arresting people, creating explosions and killing people usually between the hours of 12am-4am making it impossible for anyone to sleep.


Destruction of property as a result of the recent invasion by anonymous Balata photographer

There’s not a single family in the camp that doesn’t have at least one tragedy: someone killed, someone in jail for 20 years, someone crippled or disfigured from a gunshot wound. Some families have multiple tragedies.

If Balata was a tourist destination, you’d ask for your money back if there wasn’t an invasion while you were visiting.

I arrived at the end of Ramadan and all the kids were out in the streets playing Jews and Arabs with their brand new toys guns, imitating not what they see on TV, but the reality of their life in the camp.

With the help of camp residents, the wall for the mural was carefully chosen and prepared.

Work on the mural was dependant on the weather and also on the forecast of whether there were invading soldiers or not.

Fi shitta ilyoom? (Is there rain today?)
Fi (There is)

Fi jaysh ilyoom? (Are there soldiers today?)
Fi (There are)

The morning of November 3 I woke up to the sounds of an invasion, an exchange of gun fire on and off from about 2:30am-3:30am. At approximately 3:30am the muezzin announced there was a new martyr. His name was Ibrahim Snakreh and he was 16-years old. He was unarmed and was killed while trying to help his brother Ahmad, aged 19, who had already been shot.

A witness at the scene of the murder reported that Ibrahim heard shouting out in the street, ran outside and saw some of Ahmad’s possessions scattered in the street including his mobile phone which was ringing. Ibrahim picked up the phone in order to bring it to Ahmad, ran a few steps and was shot by a sniper in the back. The bullet emerged through his thigh. He died of his wounds at the hospital. The next day the Israeli media wrote that Ibrahim and Ahmad were terrorists planning a terrorist operation. Witnesses came to the conclusion that it was a random shooting, that snipers were shooting at anything that moved and that they clearly saw that Ibrahim was not armed and was only trying to help his brother.

Ahmad is still in the hospital recovering from his wounds.

There were sounds of explosions on and off for the rest of the night. No one slept much.

I watched Ibrahim’s funeral procession from a roof the next day.

The following three photos were taken at the funeral by an anonymous photographer from Balata:


Ibrahim’s brother kisses him goodbye


A friend says goodbye


Funeral procession

As I was finishing the mural, I photographed some young kids as they put up the new martyr posters of Ibrahim. I recognized him in the photo as one of the kids who was watching me paint the day before. He had asked me if I’d seen someone, I said no I hadn’t, and then he left. Now he’s dead.

A taxi driver took me from Balata to Huwara checkpoint and told me he had seen me painting the mural. He opened the glove compartment of the car and pulled out 6 photos of 6 different men. “Kullu shuhada,” he said, meaning ‘all martyrs’. I asked if they were his friends, he said one was his brother and the rest were his friends.

Tel Rumeida Diary: The Israeli Idea of “Quiet”

by Mary, October 14th

A young soldier told me that he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. He did not want peace, just quiet. He wanted quiet! And quiet he has, I suppose. He has no need to arrest anyone or shoot anyone. And that is the best a young conscript can hope for! Unfortunately his quiet is not good for everyone.

What the Israeli army calls “quiet” here means pandering to Israeli settlers, mostly by ignoring attacks on Palestinians and internationals and Israeli human rights workers (HRWs) by Israeli settler boys, who are too young to be arrested. On the evening of Friday September 29th, Baruch Marzel’s son and two other boys were hanging about outside our house and one of them threw muck at me. It was all over the back of clothes and in my hair. Soldiers were there but did nothing. The police came and said I could make a complaint but they could do nothing. The boys were too young! If it had been Palestinian children, they would not be considered too young. There are more than 700 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons. Next day Baruch asked what I thought about the children. I replied that I didn’t know what he meant. Then he said “Shabbat Shalom”. It definitely wasn’t an apology but it was better than the usual “Nazi” or “Anti-semetic”. So I replied “Shabbat Shalom”.

There have been constant attacks on the families living near the Tel Rumeida settlement.
The El Azzeh families had rocks thrown at their house for three hours the other evening. This happens a lot. There is a new young family in a house that had been empty. They have two toddler children and the rock throwing is a great worry for them. So there are now four families alongside the settlement. All have children. In the last month, Tel Rumeida settler children have cut the water pipe to these houses three times. The work was supervised by a woman, who came from the Gaza colonies a year ago. She has been trespassing on and trying to steal El Azzeh land ever since.

In July 2005, there was an Israeli court order that the El Azzeh families were allowed to use part of their land as a pathway, parallel to the street so that they could lead their house (for three years previously, these families were not allowed out of their houses, 2 hrs every two weeks curfew). Which the settlers have taken over. In December 2005, the Israeli army put razor wire across the entrance to the path. Until June 2006, the children were allowed to pass that way. If they couldn’t open the wire, most soldiers would help them. The children were constantly harassed by the settler woman from the late Gaza colonies. She would tell the soldiers that the children were not allowed pass. And, if that was not effective, she would physically block their way – standing over them and abusing them. Human rights workers were always there to help the children when the children came from and went to school. However, during the summer, while I was in Australia, Tel Rumeida settlers and some soldiers put a lot of razor wire at the end of the track near the El Azzeh houses. Now the families cannot pass at all. The only other way, is a very rough track through other people’s back yards. The ground is rocky and there are many rough steps as well as a ladder to climb. Two weeks ago, 6 year old Ahmad fell on rocky ground and injured his head, which is still covered in sticking plaster. The track has been tidied at the road end near us. It looks quiet and even peaceful! But this is misleading.

The Abu Aeshah family live directly opposite the Tel Rumeida settlement. On September 30th at 5.00pm, Abu Samir, Samir, Rafa and Mohammad Abu Aeshah were returning to their house opposite the Tel Rumeida settlement. Two settler boys came out and threw rocks at them. An Israeli army officer had told me that his soldiers are positioned to help in case of a settler attack against this family. This does not appear to be the case. No soldiers came. It was less than a week since the Abu Aeshah family was attacked in this way. The officer’s assurance does not seem to be worth much. Earlier on the same day, two HRWs were at the crossroads looking towards the Tel Rumeida settlement. Three settler boys, aged about ten, were throwing rocks towards a Palestinian house nearby. The HRWs called to the soldiers at the crossroad to come. One of the soldiers yelled at the boys until they stopped. Later, the same boys came out of the settlement with other girls and boys. They moved down the road towards the crossroad. Three boys went into the entryway of the Palestinian house and threw rocks at the front door. Others threw rocks down the road towards the soldiers who were responding to the HRWs call. Both soldiers sent the settler children back to the settlement. This is quiet?

All Palestinian government workers have not been paid since the end of February. Finally, after 7 months of working without pay, they are on strike. The money exists to pay them. Israel is collecting tax for Palestine but will not hand it over. They say that this is because the Palestinians elected Hamas, which the USA and Israel say is terrorist organization. But it was a democratic election with over a thousand registered international observers, who found it to be exemplary. So much for the USA wanting democracy in the Middle East! The Palestinians were tired of corrupt government, which gave the people nothing and obtained not even basic humanitarian rights from Israel. If Israel wanted a different government, some concessions – such as releasing 700 children, many of whom have not been charged with an offense, from Israeli prisons – would have made enough difference to swing the election. So now, there is no school, no nurses, doctors or workers in hospitals (except for emergencies), no garbage collectors etc. Even though the government in Hebron is not controlled by Hamas, the restrictions are here too. Israel holds the tax money of these people and collective punishment is the order of the day. One of the most shocking things for me is that my Australian government says that this is somehow helping Israel protect itself. Probably the reverse is true. It is not healthy for any nation to behave so callously, while demanding that their youth (Israeli army conscripts) be the ones to defend their cruel stance.

October 7th-14th (Succot week)

It is the Jewish holiday of Succot. Settlers have strung banners on Palestinian houses and flags and banners in the street. No permission was asked of Palestinians, but all is quiet. But the lack of consideration by and arrogance of the settlers and the acquiescence of the Israeli army is sickening. There were no problems on Shabbat (Saturday). On Sunday, the checkpoint for those leaving Tel Rumeida (checkpoint 56) was closed at 1.30pm. No notice was given. Soldiers forced the closure of shops in H1 (which is supposed to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority, under the Hebron accords) and invaded further into the Palestinian controlled area. Then the checkpoint was intermittently opened and closed until 3.30pm. Israeli settlers arrived at about 3.10pm and purposefully blocked the way of Palestinians using the checkpoint. At 3.30pm the checkpoint was closed – until 7pm, we were told. The settlers escorted by soldiers and police were allowed through the checkpoint and taken into a Palestinian house in H1. The aim was to visit the “Cave of Otniel Ben-Knaz”. This constituted not only trespass in a Palestinian home but an invasion by Israeli settlers and soldiers into H1.

Palestinians were beginning to gather at the checkpoint. It is Ramadan, which means fasting in daylight hours for Muslims. Palestinians need to finish their shoping before about 4.30pm and break their fast at about 5.45pm. The police and army officers present at the checkpoint made telephone calls. The settlers and soldiers returned. Several stones were thrown at the H1 side of the checkpoint. Not so quiet! Soldiers went rushing back again with guns ready. There was some tear gas. Then all was quiet again. The checkpoint was open again by 4.15pm.

On Monday the 9th, we were inundated with over a thousand tourists – religious Israeli Jews. They were walking all over the area, but thankfully there were no problems. A Palestinian told me that they were from Tel Aviv and other places in Israel. They were not settlers. On Tuesday and Wednesday, there was many bus loads of tourists. The buses park right in front of Palestinian doorways even though Palestinians and internationals are sitting there. This seems extremely rude as there are other places to park. Soldiers order the Palestinians to go inside their houses to make room for tourists to get off the bus. This international refuses to move! Most of the tourists themselves are no trouble. There are a few groups of young men, dressed the garb of religious Jews (black hat or kippur and trousers with a white shirt) who often act unpleasantly. On Tuesday, a group of about 12 crowded round me as I sat on a wall outside a Palestinian house. Two of them trod on my feet several times and tried to say that I was tripping them.

This is the “quiet” of the Israeli army. The settlers, no matter how badly they behave or how unreasonable their demands, are always put first. The Palestinians, no matter how conciliatory they are, always come last.